Title: Mobile broadband-based healthcare management: advantages, issues and challenges

Authors: Debopam Acharya; Vijay Kumar

Addresses: Department of Computer Sciences, Georgia Southern University, P.O. Box 7997 StatesBoro, Georgia-30460, USA. ' Computer Science Electrical Engineering, University of Missouri, 5100 Rockhill Road, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA

Abstract: Massive advancement of mobile computing technology and systems has led to their integration in different aspects of our life. Mobile and pervasive environments built over wireless infrastructures have introduced new possibilities in the healthcare sector in the form of real time health monitoring and diagnosis systems. While current third generation technologies may be sufficient to implement simple monitoring applications involving small amount of data using short messages, systems involving round-the-clock mobile health monitoring, remote tests and diagnosis and other real time applications in healthcare sector requires seamless fourth generation mobile broadband technologies like WiMAX or LTE. In this work, we discuss features, benefits, socio economic reasons of mobile health management and identify some of the most recent mobile health management systems developed and deployed worldwide. Finally, we present the architecture of a next generation healthcare system and discuss issues and challenges that should be addressed in this system.

Keywords: mobile healthcare management; MHM; 4G wireless technologies; real time health monitoring; remote diagnosis; medical BANs; body area networks; MBAN; mobile broadband; m-healthcare; healthcare technology; mobile communications.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCIH.2012.046998

International Journal of Computers in Healthcare, 2012 Vol.1 No.3, pp.254 - 268

Published online: 30 Oct 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article